Miles of chain link fences, Level 1 event eligible for assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and federal agencies, metal detectors, x-ray machines, radiation detectors, no-fly zones, Special Forces, air defence missiles, snipers, equipment to detect radioactive, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and field hospital to take care of the potential victims of a terrorist attack.

A wish to promote democratic values in sport has ostensibly been a main driving force behind a new Global Sports Political Power Index from the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark.

With just 100 days to go to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Play the Game asked whether security concerns and the desire for positive coverage could stifle press freedom.

Calls for boycott of a mega-event because of the host country's national politics are never far away, and the image battle rages in the media. In this article from The Conversation, David Rowe examines the relationship between sport and politics.

Currently, the IOC faces great international pressure because of Russia's new, strict anti-gay laws. Andreas Selliaas comments on the situation and on whether the IOC ought to take a greater political responsibility.

Countless Brazilians are taking to the streets in protests that started as an uprising against increasing transportation prices and evolved into country-wide demonstrations against the World Cup spending among other things. In this article, Erich Beting, Brazilian journalist and sports business expert, gives his account of the demonstrations.

Protests over the rising costs of public transportation and the expense of hosting the 2014 World Cup have spread, leading as many as 200,000 protesters to march through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities.

Sport England’s newest survey on sport and active recreation in the UK shows a fall in regular sports participation of 220,000 in the past year, the number of active +26-year-olds has dropped by 280,000.